HELP! Control 2 DC Motors from Labview+Arduino+Xbee

[rbrancalion]

Hi guys

Alright?

I have a project and needed to control two DC motors connected in a L293D and this connected to the xbee. PWM signals and digital I would like to send by arduino that is connected by usb to labview and am using the LIFA.

I made a picture showing what I need and want to know if anyone here can help me and tell me if this is possible?????

Because I do not know if is possible to send a signal from Labview for Arduino and send this by the RX / TX to Xbee (ZC). Can someone help me configure Labview and Xbees?

I need to use the digital outputs and PWM from Arduino? Or just have to send the signal information that I want to control the Arduino RX / TX and this send to Xbee?

I really need help, please!

Thankss!

[Nathan_B.]

I think it might be possible.  You would either need to have an Arduino Mega to be able to use the extra hardware Serial or use SoftwareSerial on an Uno (not sure how reliable this is) to communicate with the XBee.  I would suggest that you look for Arduino projects/code that already does this as a basis (and to tell you if it is possible).

As for LIFA, you would need to add custom functions in both LabVIEW and the LIFA firmware.

[hrh1818]

How far apart are the two DC motors located?.  If the two motors are reasonably close you could use a different configuration.  That is connect Labview to the Xbee module, next connect the Xbee module to the

Arduino board and then use an Adafruit Motor Shield.  By changing the configuration of the project makes it easy to use LIFA with your project.  

hrh1818

[hrh1818]

It looks like you are making your project more complicated and adding a lot of work by adding an Arduino board to your project.  I suggest you eliminate the Arduino board and connect Labview directly to the Xbee Coordinator. Of course this means no LFA.

hrh1818

[rbrancalion]

Arduino has another circuits, but i can use both, the arduino and the xbee explorer usb

You know how i can connect Labview directly to the Xbee Coordinator? With the Xbee explorer usb?

But how i configure the xbee explorer usb to receive two states (0 or 1) and PWM value (0 to 255) from Labview and send this packet one time for Xbee 1 and another time to Xbee 2?

[hrh1818]

I assume when you say XBee explorer USB You are referring to a device like this.

<https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8687>

A better configuration for your system is to use one XBee coordinator and three Xbee end devices.  One Xbee end device would connect to an Arduino board and the other two XBee end devices would be used for controlling your DC Motors.  Because each Xbee end device would have a separate address you can easily control which device a message is sent to.

This page has a bunch of images showing the Xbee Explorer USB.

<http://www.amazon.com/SparkFun-XBee-Explorer-Dongle/dp/B004G4ZJCA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374786864&...

Click on the bottom image on the left hand side of the page.  The image shows an Xbee module plugged into the Explorer and the Explorer plugged into a USB port.  The XBee Exporer  USB converts the USB interface to a COM port,  So you would use the serial interface capabilities of Labview to communicate with the XBee coordinator.  The student edition of Labview comes with two examples of Serial interface VIs.  One is called Basic serial write and read.VI and the other is called Advanced serial write and read.VI

. hrh1818

[hrh1818]

Clarification.  There are two versions of the XBee Explorer USB.  The $25.00 version requires the user to supply a USB cable with a mini B connector. The $30.00 version comes with an adapter for connecting to a PC. 

Additional comments

You need to obtain a Virtual COM port driver for the Xbee Explorer USB from this link,

<http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm>

You need to obtain the X-CTU software from Digi International to configure the Xbee modules.  See:

<http://www.digi.com/support/kbase/kbaseresultdetl?id=2125>

Anyone buiding aq wireless network with XBee modules will find the following book is very helpful.

<http://www.amazon.com/Building-Wireless-Sensor-Networks-Processing/dp/0596807732/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&...

hrh1818

[rbrancalion]

Thanks hrh1818 for the help,

I will try to use the XBee Explorer USB direct, if I cant I ask you again.

Im really newbie with Xbee. I can usa VISA interface with Xbee Explorer USB?

[betterthanyou]

yes you can but the problems with Xbee and arduino is when i want to use LDR or any sensor i want to make visualisation of this sensor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!